Streetlights
by youarebeingridiculous
Summary: Mr. Mellark is the dreamy art teacher and Katniss is his awkward student. Written for the ask box AU meme Student/Teacher Everlark


_Seems like street lights glowing  
Happened to be just like moments passing in front of me  
So I hopped in the cab and I paid my fare  
See, I know my destination but I'm just not there _

**Red**

"I'm just saying, Delly said she saw Mr. Mellark doing yoga _and_ racquetball at the Panem Country Club…shirtless and – "

"Madge, please, he's our teacher," Katniss blushes.

Madge pops her gum as she pages through Cosmo tips on 97 ways to make him come without your hands or mouth and shrugs, "Just because he's our teacher doesn't mean he's dead. He's only like...5 or 6 years older than us."

Katniss rolls her eyes, "It means you probably shouldn't be imagining him naked."

"Kat – that's the only way I'm able to get through art appreciation. I sit there, I imagine him teaching me naked while he gets all hyped up about Titian or Van Gogh or Kandinsky or whatever."

"Gross Madge."

"Just imagine him teaching sex-ed, or giving a CPR demo. We really should go to the club with Delly and watch him run around half naked. Seriously Kat, you aren't blind, Mr. Mellark is a total babe."

"Okay okay," she acquiesces, "He's moderately attractive."

"Moderately?" Madge scoffs, "Imagine him doing yoga in downward dog position," she pauses, "Now imagine him fucking you in downward dog, and tell me he isn't hot."

Katniss's face flushes as the imagery is prevalent in her mind, "I hate you."

"I knew it. Even you, ice queen Everdeen cannot deny the babe that is Mr. Mellark and the number he does on your panties. I bet he has a big cock and knows how to use it," she winks

"Stop. I have to sit in a classroom with that man for the rest of the semester before I can get out of this stupid town," she raises her hand finishing the conversation.

**Yellow**

It should have been the happiest moment of her life so far. Moving her tassel on her graduation cap from the left to the right as she crosses the stage she can't help but notice the cavernous hole in the audience. A heart attack had taken her father three weeks ago. She shakes Principal Coin's hand as she accepts her diploma and disappears back into the crowd of graduates. After the ceremony instead of heading into the receiving hall way, she takes the back way out of the auditorium into a familiar empty art classroom. She pauses to look at a few of the paintings on the wall, ones not adorned with the artist's last name or period number, ones that look more…professional? She startles when the substantial wood door to the art room shuts and heavy footsteps follow in its wake.

"Oh," she stutters, "Sorry Mr. Mellark – I just…needed a place away from the crowds for a minute," she stumbles as she takes him in. Usually he's dressed in a plaid button up and jeans. It's the first time she's seen him in a suit and it definitely agrees with him. He's not her teacher any longer and for the first time she feels like it's okay to look at him as a man instead of an educator. Her eyes trail surreptitiously up his suit, pausing for a moment at the curve of his ass, his trim waist and his broad shoulders.

He smiles kindly at her, "It's more than all right Katniss – sometimes we all just need a moment to get away and gather ourselves."

"Or more than a moment," she mumbles, reaching out to touch the canvas of one of the paintings before quickly retracting her hand. Her eyes dart over to him, "Sorry," she mutters quietly.

He's watching her with a look she doesn't recognize. Intensity? "It's fine, it's just a rough doodle I'm working on," he shrugs walking over to stand behind her.

"You painted this?" She asks cocking her head to the side, trying to make out what she imagines will be a woman once he's finished.

"All the ones in this corner, yeah."

She can feel his breath ghost along her skin and involuntarily shivers. "They're beautiful," she says as her eyes move along the canvases. "It's hard for me to see the beauty in anything these days," she quietly states.

His hand comes down on her shoulder and he squeezes it gently, "I'm sorry about your dad Katniss."

She can feel the tears burning behind her eyes and hugs her arms around her small body, "Thank you," she sniffs.

As her body begins to tremble and shake more, wracked with full blown sobs that she hadn't allowed herself to expel in the past three weeks. She had been strong for her mother and sister and now her resolve had broken. She felt a pair of sturdy arms pull her close and felt Mr. Mellark's warm embrace. She was finally able to release a few weeks' worth of pain as she grips his suit jacket in her hands and cries into his perfectly starched blue button down shirt. He runs his hand soothingly up and down her back while his other holds her firmly in place.

When she finally is able to pull herself together she takes a small step back and looks up at her former teacher. His blue eyes are full of warmth…and something else she can't quite identify. His hands cup her face and his calloused thumbs run underneath her eyes brushing away her tears. He leans down and softly kisses her forehead, igniting something deep within her stomach, something she can't quite identify yet. He tilts her chin up so her eyes meet his own. There's something new, something different as his blue eyes gleam down towards her own metallic gray ones, "Katniss," he says softly, "Even the longest winter eventually blooms into spring."

**Green**

Katniss brushes the snow off her jacket as she walks into the Agora gallery off 25th street. Even after 4 years in New York she still can't seem to get used to the crowds. She pulls her notebook out of her small cross body bag, ready to make the necessary notes for her modern contemporary art class in the morning. As she makes her observations on the artist's style she feels a presence next to her. Looking up she is caught off guard by a pair of familiar cerulean eyes, "Mr. Mellark?" she asks, slightly awestruck.

He gives her a nervous smile and sits on the bench next to her, "Hi Katniss."

"Hi wow – it's been 4 years," she says stumbling over her words blushing as she thinks about the last encounter she had with her former teacher and the uncomfortable butterflies in her stomach that begin to flutter in his presence. "What are you doing in New York, Mr. Mellark?"

He chuckles, "I think you can probably just call me Peeta now, Katniss."

She bites her lip and tries the name on for size, "Okay…Peeta," deciding she likes the way it feels on her tongue.

His smile reaches his eyes as her lips form his name, "I actually moved here a couple years ago, I was getting my master's and just decided to throw everything into my art…to see – well to see if I could make it," he says as he points to a few of the paintings at the front of the gallery.

She stands up and inspects the work carefully, a beautiful meadow is laid out in front of her and she doesn't think she's ever seen anything quite as soothing, "It's incredible – your use of light – well, I really like it."

His pale cheeks turn a slight pink as he thanks her, "I have a few more in the back if you'd like to see them?" He asks offering her his arm.

She accepts his request and feels a slight tremble in his arm as she places her hand on top. They walk to the back of the gallery and Katniss surveys his other works that are for sale, her eyes stopping on a familiar figure, something she'd seen unfinished what felt like a lifetime ago but now completed, "Is that - is that me?" She asks quietly.

She hears a quick exhalation of breath beside her, "I promise I'm not creepy or weird," he says quickly.

She glances at him from the side of her eye, "Okay…." She trails off.

"What I mean to say is that – yes that one is you. I…I just found you fascinating in school. I never would have acted on anything I promise. You were my student, I was your art teacher. I just – you were so complex. You were so strong, I watched you take care of your family, you were so determined, but then when you smiled it was the most beautiful thing in the world and I had to capture it. I quit teaching after you graduated. I couldn't contain the muse that you set free inside of me. I know it sounds hokey but – you inspired me Katniss."

She bit her lip and carefully appraises him, "I – "

"I'm sorry, I know no matter how I say it, it's weird and probably inappropriate but, there's something about you that I couldn't and still can't shake. When I saw you walk in here, after all these years it just felt like fate stepping in," he took a breath and pushes his angelically wavy blonde hair out of his eyes, "I'm sorry. I'll leave now," he says turns on his heel and starts to make his way towards the front of the gallery.

"Peeta wait!" She calls.

He turns around and she can't miss the hopeful look in his eyes, "Yeah?"

She walks up to him with a purpose and pulls his head down to hers leaving a slow kiss on his full pink lips. As she pulls back she blushes slightly, "I had the biggest crush on you in high school."

He still looks slightly dazed as he looks down on her petite frame, "Really?"

"God yes, Madge Undersee used to tease me about it all the time."

A slow genuine smile breaks out across his face, "Would you like to grab some coffee with me?" He asks earnestly offering her his hand.

Her much smaller hand slides into his, "I'd like that."


End file.
